patbutler00

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About patbutler00

Rank

Junior Member

Profile Information

Gender

Male

Location

Los Angeles

Occupation

Sungrade Solar

Interests

sustainability, leave no trace, professional development.

Biography

I became an Eagle Scout in May 2012. I knew I wanted to explore a career in renewable energy so I started working for a startup solar company in 2015. After some time at that company I switched to a large nation-wide industry leader. After seeing the inside of the Industry from both angles, I chose to start a brand new company in California in May 2016. Less than 2 years later we are one of the top 5 companies in the industry and we are growing fast! I would love to find some professional and passionate Eagle Scouts to join my team.

When I became an Eagle Scout back in May 2012 it was the greatest achievement of my life (I graduated high school the day before). However, up until recently it was something I almost never shared with anyone else. I would occasionally leverage the achievement on a job application or on my resume but it was never something I would lead with publicly.
It wasn't until I began my role as a recruiter for my company did I realize how valuable it was to have such a strong achievement under my belt. At the time, I would interview up to 10 people a day and in a 30-60 minute video call and try to understand who they were as a person and if they would truly be a good fit for the position we needed filled. The positions were no small role, each hire was a huge investment. At the moment we chose to onboard someone we would be $10,000 in the hole with nothing but high-hopes that this candidate would have great performance that they would eventually make up for such a large investment.
After a few bad hires I learned how challenging this really was. Discouraged, I reached out to one of my mentors Todd to see how he overcame this problem of learning about people in such a short interview. I said "Hey Todd, how do you determine the quality of someone given such a short time to learn about them? What questions would you ask them?" With no knowledge that I was an Eagle Scout and no hesitation, Todd fired back: "Man just find some Eagle Scouts! Do you have any on your team right now?" I replied: "I think I'm the only one." he said: "Case and point!".
That was my 'ah-ha' moment when I realized that the achievement of Eagle Scout is one that is universally recognized in the professional world. It is a mark of leadership and hard work. Above all, it's an honest indication of strong character which is one of the hardest things to learn about someone in a short interview. Since that realization, I have attracted many Eagle Scouts to my team and that alone has helped me and my company grow significantly. I am here now because I would like to see if more stories like this exist out there and to get to know more Eagle Scouts. My ultimate goal would be to find more Eagle Scouts so that we can organize and work together to achieve a higher level of success together than we could apart, just as I have seen on my team. Thoughts?